Sunday, April 06, 2014

I Always Knew Dragons Could be Pesky








I have had this cross stitch pattern for quite sometime -- bought it from Monique Keylon, if I remember correctly.  I loved him from the beginning but set him aside to pursue other things.  I finally started on the project, did the border and then started on the little guy whom I refer to as Alford.  I was about a third of the way through with his body and realized things weren't right -- I was off and I couldn't figure it out.  So, I put him up for another LONG time and went back to quilting.

The other day, realizing that I am sort of burned out on quilting, I turned my attention to cross stitch again and started sorting out my WIP's, of which there are many.  My eye was caught by Alford, who was basically no more, but the fabric was still in the q-snap so I gathered up all the thread and the pattern and all the other things needed to work on this and I gave him another look. 

I have never gridded a project before - I figured that I had done enough of this sort of stitching that I didn't NEED to.  Ever heard "pride goeth before the fall"?  Yeah.  Ok, so I decided to check the border and it was ok -- counted correctly.  So, I decided to grid from there and try that.



I used pink sewing thread to mark the grid figuring it would be easy enough to see but not obstructive and with a single strand, it should be easy to pull out. 

I grabbed my pattern and some sticky notes.  I made a copy of the pattern so I could scribble on it, and isolated each little 10 X 10 square with a sticky note on all four sides.  I started stitching and was thrilled at how easy it was going. 






Who knew how easy it would make it -- I guess you are never too old to learn!  I have a perfect place to hang this once I get it finished and framed.  I have become quite attached to Alford.  The only thing I wish is that I had chosen different colors but he is cheerful and will look nice on the wall.  I am happy and  I have to say that I was also burned out on cross stitching but I think this might turn that around. 

Oh My Goodness! I have gone into slacker mode!

 I can’t believe I haven’t been here in almost a month!  Well, what can I say, life has gotten out of hand. We have been caught up in health...